Grain drier and crib



March 13, 1951 OTLEY 2,545,166

GRAIN DRIER AND CRIB Filed May 29, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

JESSE D. OTLEY WWW ATTORNEY March 13, 1951 J. D. OTLEY GRAIN DRIER AND CRIB 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 29, 1948 Patented Mar. 13, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRAIN DRIER AND CRIB Jesse B. Otley, St. Davids, Pa.

Application May 29, 1948;- Serial No. 30,120

4 Claims. I

The present invention relates generally to drying and storage apparatus for grain and other agricultural produce, and pertains particularly to grain driers and cribs of novel design which afford features of construction, operation and maintenance not heretofore available in appara tus for this purpose;

In the ordinary course of farming it frequently becomes convenientor necessary to dry at the same time several distinct lots or quantities of grain, each of which lets contains a dilferent per centage of excess moisture which must be removed before it may be stored with safety. Under such circumstances it would be highly desirable in most cases,- if the several lots of grain could all be placed inthe same drier and there simultaneously subjected to selective drying conditions determined in each case by the moisture content of the particular lot to be dried. It is obvious that such an apparatus would have numerous important applications and would be particularly valuable on small farm's which might not yield asufiicient quantity of grain to justify the purchase of more than one crib. Moreover, anappa'ratuscapable of functioning in the above manner could at one and the same time be used bothas a drier and as a storage crib; as will appear more fully hereinafter, thus affording the farmer great flexibility in his use of the apparatus.

Briefly stated,- the grain drier and crib of the present invention comprises a chamber provided with a plurality of air supply ducts and exhaust openings spaced longitudinally of the chamber in such a way that for each supply duct an exhaust opening is provided in close proximity thereto. Individual dampers are provided for theducts and exhaust openings, and provision is made for erecting bulkheads transversely of the chamber at desired points. By this arrangement, the chamber may be conveniently divided into a number of isolated smaller chambers in each or which the air circulatory conditions may be independently controlled according to the demand for drying air existing in them. If desired, aportion of the drying chamber may be rendered completely inoperative, thereby assur ing circulation of drying air only through those portions of the chamber where it is needed, with a resulting increase in economy of operation of the apparatus. For example, if only enough grain to fill one-quarter of the crib is to be dried and stored therein, a bulkhead may be erected across the drying chamber to isolate onequarter of the chamber, and the dampers ad-' juste'd so as to permit air to circulate only through the quarter of the chamber which is being used for drying or storage. It can readily be seerrthat with such flexibility of use permitted to the farmer, he may always adjust the apparatus to function most efficiently, with consequent savings in operating costs;

Additional operational advantages may be realized in a grain drier and crib embodyingthe construction features referred td'above.- For ex= ample, a number of difierent kinds Ofgrain, each containing a different percentage of excess moisture to be removed, may be dried in a single drier at the same time without danger of confusion thereof, the amount of drying air circulated through each lot being completely independent of the air circulating through the others and the adjustment of such air circulation being under the complete control of the operaton Furthermore; if desired, one portion of the drier may be used as a storage crib, while another portion thereof simultaneously is being used to dry another quail-'- tity of grain. So far as I am aware; the grain drier and crib" of the present invention is the first to include construction features rendering possible the realization 6f these advantages.

Accordingly, it is an object ofthe' invention to provide a grain drier and crib of variable ca; pacity and including controls for the circulation of air therethrough to assure the greatest efii= ciency of operation thereof for any desired ca pacity within its limits.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus capable of functioning both as a graindrier and crib, and which includes means for circulating drying air selectively and control-lably through any or all of a number of defined portions of the length thereof A further object is to provideapparatusofthis description which is divisible" into a plurality of isolated sections, the air circulatory conditions within each of such sections being independently controllable.

An additional object is to provide a grain'drie'r and crib which may be fabricated from standard structural materials and component assemblies, whereby maintenance and replacement expenses" maybe minimized.

A still further object is toprovide a" grain drier and crib" having a single source of drying air and a single air exhausting means, the air source-be ing adapted to provide air selectively and-111' can: trol'l'able quantity to a number of defined pertiohs or the length: or a drying chamber, and the hausting' niean'sbeing adapted to" withdraw selectively and in controllable quantity from such defined portions of the drying chamber, whereby the air circulatory conditions in any of the defined portions of the drying chamber may be maintained different from the air circulatory conditions maintained in the other portions.

The above and other objects of the invention and the means of their attainment will become more apparent from a study of the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of my invention, and in which;

Fig. 1 is an end elevational view of a grain drier and crib made in accordance with the invention,

parts of the structure being shown broken away conveniently to illustrate details of construction and the disposition of the several parts of the apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, portions thereof being shown broken away to clarify a number of the features of construction of the apparatus; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2.

As shown in the drawings, the grain drier and crib of the present invention comprises a shell portion l of corrugated iron or other desired material, here shown as substantially cylindrical in form and of generally circular cross-section, which is adapted to receive and contain the grain to be dried and stored. The shell is provided with a plurality of charging openings or manholes 2 spaced longitudinally of the shell to provide ac- .cess to the interior thereof. Although the manholes 2 are shown in the drawings as being placed on the same side of the shell I, it will be understood that manholes may be provided on both sides of the shell to permit charging thereof from either side. The manholes are fitted with hinged .covers 3 of conventional design.

As an additional means of ingress to the interior of the shell I, a door 4 is constructed in an end wall of the crib. Behind the door 4 is a barrier or bafile, shown generally as 5, the purpose of which is to prevent the flow of grain from the shell when the door 4 is opened. The barrier 5 comprises a plurality of slats 6 slidable vertically in a pair of guides l fixed to the end wall of the crib, the slats being removable individually from the top of the barrier to adjust the height of the barrier according to the quantity of grain retained behind it. If desired, a similar door and bafiie arrangement may be provided in the shell at its other end. Preferably, the shell is supported above the ground, as by concrete foundations 8 or other convenient supporting means.

Supported on the top portion of the shell externally thereof and extending substantially throughout its length is an air supply manifold 9 provided at one end with a blower shown generally at Ill for supplying atmospheric air under pressure to the manifold E. The blower l0, which is of conventional design, includes, in addition to an electrically driven fan H, heating elements l2 for raising the temperature of the incoming air to increase its capacity for absorbing moisture from the grain. The heating elements l2 may be steam or hot water coils, or they may be electrical resistance elements, as desired. Communicating with the manifold 9 at longitudinally spaced points are a plurality of ducts I3, each of which comprises apair of opposed branches projecting laterally of the manifold and extending around the shell and adjacent the interior walls thereof, each of thebranches of the ducts I3 terminating with an open end [4 adjacent the bottom of the shell. The several ducts (3 are provided with dampers l5 slidable in guides It to regulate the size of the openings I? through which the ducts l3 communicate with the manifold 9. It can thus be seen that by adjusting the dampers [5 air from the supply manifold 9 may be selectively admitted to the ducts to provide a preferential flow of supply air to a defined portion of the length of the shell adjacent the bottom thereof whence it passes upwardly through the grain and is exhausted from the top of the shell by means hereinafter described.

An exhaust manifold l8, conveniently disposed adjacent the supply manifold 9 and coextensive therewith, communicates with the interior of the shell through a plurality of longitudinally spaced openings l9 provided with dampers 2B slidable in guides 2| carried by the exhaust manifold. A conventional exhaust fan, shown generally at 22, is positioned in the exhaust manifold preferably at one end thereof, the discharge opening of the manifold being provided with a plurality of shutters 23 to prevent the entrance of rain. The dampers 28 are adjustable to control the size of the exhaust openings 19 in the same manner as described above in connection with the dampers for the supply manifold 9, and may be employed to permit the selective withdrawal of air from the defined portions of the length of the shell with which the openings [9 communicate.

The interior wall of the shell carries a plurality of hangers which in Fig. 2 are shown as cars or bracket portions 24 provided with fastening bolts 25, the hangers being spaced longitudinally in the shell and adapted to support bulkheads 26 (only one of which is shown) for the purpose of isolating any linear portion of the shell from the remainder thereof. In Fig. 2 one bulkhead 26 is shown positioned near one end of the crib to isolate a small end portion thereof to accommodate a quantity of grain 21 for drying or storage. I preferably position the hangers 24 in such a way that a bulkhead carried thereby will isolate a portion of the shell which contains at least one of the ducts l3 and at least one of the openings l9 communicating with the exhaust manifold. It can be seen that, with this arrangement, when a bulkhead is attached to the interior of the shell to isolate a linear portion thereof, the air circulatory conditions within the isolated portion may be maintained different from the air circulatory conditions in the remainder of the shell simply by adjusting the dampers l5 and 20 to control the flow of air into and out of the portions of the shell on both sides of the bulkhead. Although I have illustrated my improved grain drier and crib with only one bulkhead 25 it will be understood that additional bulkheads may be added at any of a number of positions along the length of the apparatus, as desired, or, when only a single bulkhead is to be used, it may be placed in the drying chamber in a position other than that illustrated, if convenient.

In order to facilitate emptying the grain drier and crib, I provide a shovelling channel 28 as the floor thereof, which channel has upstanding walls 29 extending longitudinally of the chamber I. Thus, the sloping Walls of the chamber cause the grain therein to flow under the influence of gravity into the channel 28, from which it may be easily removed by shovelling or other convenient means.

To illustrate the capabilities of the grain drier of the present invention, let it be assumed that it arse -roe is desired to dry and keep storage three lots of'grain-each amounting to 250 bushels, and that adrier of about 1060 bushes total capacity is available for this purpose. Let it be further assumed that each lot of grain is of a different variety, and that one lot is suirlciently dry for safe storage but the remaining two-lots contain different percentagesot excess moisture which must be removed to prevent spoilage. In this situationit would obviously be highly desirable to dry and/ or store thes'everal'lot's separately and, furthermore, to subject the moister lot to more vigorous dryingconditions than would be required for the less moist lot. Accordingly, three bulkheads- 26 would be placed inthe drying chamber, dividing the crib-into four isolated sections each having a-capacity of 250 bushels. One of the. lots ofgrain would beplaced in: each of three of the isolated sections, the fourth section being left empty for reasons whichwillappear hereinafter.

The blower to and exhaust fan 22 are then turned on to provide heated drying air under pressure to the supply manifold 9 and to remove air from the exhaust manifold IS, respectively. Since one of the isolated sections of the crib does not contain grain for drying or storage, the dampers l5 and '29 for that section are completely closed rendering such section inoperative. In this way heated drying air is not circulated through unused drier space but is used entirely in those sections where it may do useful work, thereby increasing the efiiciency of the apparatus.

The dampers i5 and 26 for the section of the drier containing the dry grain may also be closed, if desired, since such grain may be safely stored. Thus, this section of the drier may function as a storage chamber, although it may be transformed into a drying chamber at a moments notice, should that become necessary, simply by opening its dampers l5 and 20. a

As to the grain in the remaining two sections of the drier, the dampers i5 and 2!! for such sections may be so adjusted that heated drying air is circulated in greater quantity through the moister grain where it is most urgently needed. After all of the grain has been properly dried,

the blower l0 and exhaust fan l8 may be turned off, the apparatus thereafter functioning only as a crib.

What I desire to claim is:

l. A grain drier comprisin a horizontal substantially cylindrical chamber of generally circular cross-section, an air supply manifold carried externally by said chamber and extending substantially throughout the length thereof, an air exhaust manifold carriedexternally by said chamber and extending substantially throughout the length thereof, a plurality of ducts communicating with said supply manifold in spaced relation longitudinally thereof, each of said ducts comprising a pair of opposed branches projecting laterally of said supply manifold and extending substantially circumferentially of said chamber and adjacent the interior wall thereof, each of said branches terminating with an open end adjacent the bottom of said chamber, said exhaust manifold containing a plurality of openings spaced longitudinally thereof and communicating with the top of said chamber, means for supplying heated air under pressure to said supply manifold, means for withdrawing air from said exhaust manifold, dampers for said ducts whereby air from said supply manifold may be admitted to said ducts selectively to provide a preferential flow of supply air to a: defined portion of the length of said chamber; dampers for said openings: whereby" air maybe withdrawn: selectively froma'defined portion'of thelength of saidichamber, and a'= bulkhead detachably secured within said chambertoisolate" alinear portion thereof or desired volume and containing at least one of said ducts and communicating with at least one of said openings, whereby the-air circulatory conditions within said isolated lportion'may be maintained-different from theair circulatory conditions inthe remainder of said chamber;

2. m a grain drier including a chamber, an air supply manifold for supplying air to said chamber and an: air exhaust manifold for Withdrawingair from said chamber, said exhaust manifold communicating withsaid chamber through plurality of openings spaced longitudinally' ofsaid' chamber, the improvement which comprises, in combination, a plurality of ducts communicating withsaidsupply manifold in spaced relation'longitudinally thereof and adaptedindependently to conduct air from saidsupply manifold to substantially the bottom of said chamber, dampers for said ducts whereby supply air may be admitted to said ducts selectively to provide a preferential flow of supply air to a defined portion of the length of said chamber, dampers for said openings whereby air may be withdrawn selectively from a defined portion of the length of said chamber, the floor of said chamber com-prising a shovelling channel having upraised sides extending longitudinally of said chamber, the side walls of said chamber being sloped downwardly toward said channel, and a stationary bulkhead detachably secured within said chamber to isolate a linear portion thereof of desired volume and containing at least one of said ducts and communicating with at least one of said openings, whereby the air circulatory conditions Within said isolated portion may be maintained diiferent from the air circulatory conditions in the remainder of said chamber.

3. In a drying chamber, a plurality of ducts spaced longitudinally thereof for delivering a supply of drying air to said chamber, adjacent the bottom thereof, dampers for said ducts whereby said drying air may be admitted to said ducts in controlled quantity to provide a preferential flow thereof to a defined portion of the length of said chamber, exhaust outlets in the top of said chamber spaced longitudinally thereof and respectively disposed adjacent said ducts, dampers for said outlets whereby air may be withdrawn selectively from a defined portion of the length of said chamber, the floor of said chamber comprising a shovelling channel having upraised sides extending longitudinally of said chamber, the side walls of said chamber being sloped downwardly toward said channel, and a stationary bulkhead detachably secured within said chamber to isolate a linear portion thereof of desired volume and containing at least one each of said ducts and said outlets, whereby the air circulatory conditions within said isolated portion of said chamber may be maintained different from the air circulatory conditions in the remainder of said chamber.

4. A grain drier comprising a horizontal substantially cylindrical chamber, an air supply manifold extending throughout substantially the length of said chamber, an air exhaust manifold extending substantially throughout the length of said chamber, a plurality of ducts communicating with said supply manifold in spaced relation lon- 7 gitudinally thereof, each of said ducts comprising a pair of opposed branches projecting laterally from said supply manifold and extending substantially perimetrically of said chamber, said branches terminating with open ends adjacent the bottom of said chamber, said exhaust manifold containing a plurality of openings spaced longitudinally thereof and communicating with the top of said chamber, means for supplying drying air under pressure to said supply manifold, means for withdrawing air from said exhaust manifold, dampers for said ducts whereby air from said supply manifold may be admitted to said ducts selectively to provide a preferential flow of dryin air to a defined portion of the length of said chamber, dampers for said openings whereby air may be withdrawn selectively from a defined portion of the length of said chamber, and a stationary bulkhead detachably secured within said chamber to isolate a linear portion thereof-of desired volume and containing at least one of said ducts and communicating with l at least one of said openings, whereby the air REFERENCES CITED ljhe following references are of record in the file of this patent:

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